Even though the City Council has declared the long waits at border crossings an emergency, the newly appointed acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday that it's hardly a crisis.

David Aguilar said during a news conference at the U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in El Paso that federal officials are doing everything they can to ensure that waits are reduced.

Aguilar said CBP officers are doing "the right job in the right way at the right time" trying not to impact the economic vitality of both El Paso and Juárez.

City Rep. Steve Ortega, who has criticized the federal government for not properly staffing the bridges, was surprised at Aguilar's comments.

"It's frustrating to hear someone who won't acknowledge a problem that we all know exists," Ortega said.

He said it is difficult to find a solution if federal officials do not think there is a problem.

"You can ask the thousands of individuals who live in our region whether or not the bridge times are in a state of crisis or not, and the answer will be a resounding yes," Ortega said.

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For several months, City Council members have expressed their frustration with the federal and state governments not showing an interest in solving the problem, and they have declared the long waits a state of emergency.

They say the long waits hurt the area's economy.

On Jan. 3, council members requested State Comptroller Susan Combs' assistance in evaluating the effects of excessive waits at the border on El Paso's and the state's economy.

According to a study by the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration, projected economic losses by 2017 due to increased waits in El Paso -- if no action is taken -- are $300 million in tax revenues, 11,500 jobs, $600 million in wages and $2.6 billion in export of goods. Exports to Mexico through El Paso totaled $18 billion in 2008, according to the study.

Trade is the economic engine of the country, and Mexico is the United States' second-largest trading partner, Aguilar said.

"We're looking at every possible opportunity to make a positive impact on (traffic) flow," he said. "That is looking at gaining every efficiency, opening as many lanes as we can, giving many resources."

But Ortega said he thinks that during peak hours, the bridges must be fully staffed and that is not happening.

For the past month, Ortega has been protesting the long waits at the border. He is going to Juárez about an hour before the council meetings start on Tuesday mornings and crossing into El Paso on one of the bridges.

Ortega said the times he has crossed the border into El Paso in his vehicle, the average wait is about 90 minutes -- a fact that has been documented, he said.

Aguilar said that the "real" waits at the bridges average 57 minutes at peak times, and that the overall average wait is about 27 or 28 minutes.

"When you take that into account, and you take into account that El Paso is in fact the second-safest large city in the nation, what that states to me and what it should state to this community, that it's a safe community because our men and women at the ports of entry and between the ports of entry are doing a very, very good job," Aguilar said.

There has been a dramatic result because of the actions taken by the El Paso field operations, Aguilar said. One of them was the opening of the Ready Lanes in November, he said.

The Ready Lanes allow people coming into the U.S. with proper documents to cross the border faster, he said.

The time taken for individual inspections has been reduced 18 percent to 20 percent, Aguilar said.

He said 78 new CBP officers were added to the El Paso sector in 2011. CBP officials declined to provide the number of CBP officers in the El Paso sector for safety reasons.